So it is almost the weekend, and I am doing the Random Ten on time again [!!!] because I remembered how to put headphones in my ears while I’m working. Towleroad reported yesterday that Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes, along with a group of fellow Nebraska musicians, has written a letter to the Omaha city council condemning the effort by some in that body to block a nondiscrimination ordinance that would make Omaha a more friendly, progressive place for LGBT people to live and thrive. As we all know, cities that attract artists and LGBT people tend to be the most successful cities on a lot of fronts. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read your Richard Florida.

So, in considering what to start the Random Ten with, why not Bright Eyes? I am and always have been a shameless Bright Eyes fan boy, and if you have never heard “First Day Of My Life,” and moreover, if you have never seen the video, get ready for warm fuzzies. So we will watch that, we will have a moment and reflect, then we will hit shuffle on the old iTunes, see where we are ten songs later, listen to some more music, etc. More videos after the jump! PS, I totally stole the picture of Conor that Towleroad used, because oh, he is so cute.

Also, before we get to the shuffle, here is a video of otters holding hands. It’s topical, I promise.

1. Rage Against The Machine – “Clear The Lane”
2. Willie Nelson & Kid Rock – “Last Stand In Open Country”
3. Siouxsie and the Banshees – “Switch”
4. Chris Isaak – “Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing”
5. Ray Charles – “Come Back Baby”
6. Lightspeed Champion – “Tell Me What It’s Worth”
7. Local Natives – “Cubism Dream”
8. David Wilcox – “How Did You Find Me Here”
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “The Righteous & The Wicked”
10. Lightspeed Champion – “Dry Lips”

Oh, the David Wilcox song. Wow. Haven’t listened to it in years. One of my favorites.

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Forthwith, the remaining open tabs in my browser:

1.  Brian at Right Wing Watch points us to the new, garbled, illogical pamphlet from hate group leader Peter Sprigg on the Top Ten Harms of Same-Sex Marriage.  You haven’t become accustomed to thoughtful consideration or intelligence from the Family Research Council and that certainly won’t change today, because they’re still morons.

2.  How do anti-gay forces like the NOM leaders sleep at night?  Towleroad has a heartbreaking story and testimony from a lesbian couple in Rhode Island, one of whom is terminally ill, and who, because of that, have become accidental activists in the fight for marriage equality in that state.

3.  Since anti-gay wingnuts are also anti-choice/anti-woman wingnuts, PZ Myers has one for you.  In Nebraska, a woman was forced to give birth to a baby that they knew would not develop lungs, because her water broke very early in the pregnancy.  These are the kinds of situations that George Tiller specialized in.  The worst, most painful kind.  Because of the misogynistic bastards who pushed through a draconian anti-abortion law in Nebraska, that woman had to carry the pregnancy to term, watch her baby attempt to take one breath, and then die.  Thanks, fundamentalist Christians!  You really help out with things.

4.  Want to go to Mormon Heaven?  Ted Cox will show you how.  Hint:  there are secret handshakes involved!

Music coming up in a few.

Couple gets married in Vermont, wants to get divorced in Nebraska, and that’s a typical story, right?  Except that it’s a same-sex couple, and that whole long ago useless Federalism thing is making things weird.  In this case, the judge says that since same-sex couples can’t marry in Nebraska, they surely can’t divorce either:

Judge Randall Rehmeier ruled that a lesbian couple married in Vermont eight years ago couldn’t get a divorce decree in Nebraska because Nebraska only recognizes heterosexual marriage.

The divorce was sought by a Nebraska City woman who wanted to break the Vermont marriage with her partner.

However, Rehmeier did issue a ruling involving parenting, visitation rights for the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, child support and other matters.

How bizarre.

In Omaha, Nebraska, a child’s parents and therapist have determined — after years of struggle, extensive counseling, and careful consideration of their unique circumstances — that it is best, at least for the time being, to allow their child to live as the opposite gender.

WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., has an in-depth story and video about the child’s background and struggle.

According to KTIV-TV,

[Therapist] Ellie Hites says the brain is sometimes wired differently than the body is.

She says many of her transgender clients have suffered from nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts and deep depression because they’ve been forced to hide their true identity.

Hites tells KETV-TV in Omaha, “I wish that society was open and loving enough to let that child be who that child perceives himself to be.”

But the activists of Focus on the Family and the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha will hear nothing of it. It is still considered politically correct for members of conservative political institutions to ridicule sissies and tomboys and to dismiss any child development issue as something that can be cured with a good spanking and strict conformity. Focus’ Jeff Johnston — who has no professional mental-health credentials — ignorantly diagnoses that the child must have “gender identity disorder” and further declares, “Many boys who are troubled with gender-identity disorder grow out of it,” he said. “Good parental, pastoral and therapeutic support can help.”

In other words, Focus on the Family declares that its political activists — not a child’s parents or therapist — know what’s best for all children. And it deems itself qualified to blame parents and therapists for the failure of some children to conform to the dictates of Colorado Springs evangelicals. Meanwhile, the Catholic archdiocese in Omaha has been just as smug, ignorant, conformist, and superficial: It has thrown the child out of Catholic school.

According to WJXT,

The mother, a life-long Catholic, thought making the transition in their parish would be the best place for their child to continue friendships, with a support system that included other parents and children.

“The child is welcomed to come, but it would not be acceptable to change the child’ gender and present as a girl,” said Omaha Archdiocese’s Chancellor, the Rev. Joseph Taphorn.

Instead of utilizing this moment to teach its school children about gender, tolerance, and respect, the conservative archdiocese politely told the family to get out. This is the sort of sweetly worded ostracism that conservative Catholics and Focus on the Family try to market as “love” these days.

Focus on the Family and its religious-right therapeutic mentor, NARTH, have a long history of advocating ridicule and harassment of children as a means of imposing traditional gender roles and identities by force. This latest situation suggests that Focus has not yet learned how to approach issues of youth and gender with sensitivity, grace, patience, and respect for parents’ authority and first-hand knowledge.

It’s much easier for a conservative organization to humiliate a family and to dictate comforting, self-satisfied, and politically partisan stereotypes, than to support Christian families with intelligence and compassion in unique and difficult circumstances.